Cotton Wool
by PrettyGreen
Summary: Joanne discovers Maureen's unusual fear. Oneshot.


_I own nothing._

**Cotton wool**.

Maureen was sat, quite comfortably, in the middle of Joanne's sofa. She had her legs tucked up beside her with a cosey blanket resting on them for warmth. A cup of hot chocolate lay on the coffee table infront of her, half drank. Joanne's mug lay next to it, un-touched.

"Joanne, you do know you're hot chocolate's getting cold don't you?" Maureen half heartidly shouted towards the bedroom where she knew Joanne was. Her eye's fixed on the mug, the liquid inside looking more inviting than her's had.

"Yeah, i'm coming now" Joanne's voice travelled into the living room, sounding just as lazy as Maureen's had previously.

"What are you doing in there?" Maureen allowed her eyes to divert away from the dreamy looking drink, and into the direction of the bedroom.

"Sorting the cabinet out" Joanne said, sounding frustrated. Less than a second after, a rather loud "Ow" was heard, followed by something being thrown across the floor.

Maureen decided to go and see what was going on. She couldn't trust herself with the hot chocolate anymore, it was begining to call her name.

"Joanne where are you?" Maureen questioned upon entering the bedroom with no sight of Joanne.

"Bath-ow!" Joanne's voice came from the en-suite.

Maureen leaned against the door frame, watching as Joanne picked containers out of the cabinet, looked at them, and either threw them into the waste bin or placed them back neatly.

"Why are you doing this now?" Maureen asked as Joanne threw an empty deoderant can into the bin.

"Needed to be done" Joanne had a sense of 'woman-on-a-mission' about her.

"Ok, anything i can help you with?" Maureen asked, not really paying attention. A sparkly tub had caught her eye.

"Sure, there's a bag of stuff in the kitchen i brought for the bathroom today. Just sprays and that. Could you fetch it me please?" Joanne didn't turn around from the cabinet, which was looking emptier by the second.

"Of course" Maureen chirped, and off she skipped into the kitchen.

She grabbed the bag, gave a obscenely quick glance inside, and carried on her return to the bathroom.

"One bag of .... stuff"

"Thanks, ive just about got this thing organised" Joanne said, her head giving a nod to the cupboard.

Maureen stretched out her arm, with the bag in her hand, in the direction of Joanne.

"Actually Maureen, could you pass me them? I need to keep it organised"

"You organise your cabinet?" Maureen questioned, a slight smirk on her lips.

"Yes, don't you?"

"Joanne, i don't even own a cabinet. All my stuff's either shoved under my bed or thrown ontop of the dresser. There's no organisation in the loft"

Joanne gave a small laugh, and turned her attention back to the cabinet.

"Right, first, can i have the deoderant please?" Joanne stretched out a hand.

Maureen did as she was asked and placed her hand inside the bag, cans of deoderant were pretty obvious to feel so she didn't feel the need to open the bag. A quick fumble and she grabbed the two cans and handed them to Joanne, who placed them in their correct place in the cabinet.

"Next, the tube of hand cream please"

Again, Maureen didn't feel the need to open the bag, she knew what a tube felt like, so she stuck her hand in and grabbed the tube with no difficulty. Joanne placed it in it's home.

"Right one last thing now, i'll have to get the rest of the stuff another day. This looks to empty"

Maureen looked into the cabinet, everything was perfect. The deoderant sat on the top shelf, various types of hand and face cream on the middle. The bottom shelf looked pretty bare though.

"Could you pass me the cotton wool now please Maureen?"

Maureen froze.

"Actually, i won't need it all. Could you rip the sheet in two for me please? I have cream on my hands, i think one of those tubs might have a loose lid" Joanne said, without turning around.

Maureen said nothing, and made no attempt to move. Joanne, noticing that she had a lack of cotton wool coming her way, turned to see what the hold up was.

"Maureen?"

"I can't touch the cotton wool Joanne"

"What?"

"The cotton wool, i can't. I just can't touch it"

Joanne didn't know if she should laugh or what. She looked at the expression on Maureen's face. She wasn't joking.

"Are you serious? It's cotton wool" Joanne, not believing what was going on.

"I know it's cotton wool. It's disgusting"

Joanne couldn't help herself, she let out a small laugh. She had never met someone who didn't like cotton wool.

"Maureen, it's the softest thing ever"

"No, no it's not. It horrible, it's disturbing. Just no. And the sound it make when you rip it..it's" Maureen cut herself off with shudder.

"Just. No" She added.

Maureen put the bag down next to the bath, she had no clicked in that cotton wool was living in said bag. Joanne took a seat on the toilet, she wanted to know more.

"Can you even touch it?" Joanne asked, genuinly interested.

"God no. The feel of it between our fingers is revolting, and the noise it make's is torture"

Joanne smirked.

"Ok fine, i'll rip the cotton wool" She said, making a move to grab the bag.

"No, don't"

"What? Why? You don't have to touch it"

"But the sound" Maureen said, her voice getting lower.

"It doesn't make a sound when it rips"

"Yes, yes it does. Don't lie to me. I can't stand it. I'd rather listen to cat's singing"

"Ok i won't rip it" Joanne said with a giggle.

"Thank you" Maureen sighed in relief.

"Is my hot chocolate out there?" Joanne questioned, grabbing the bin bag with the empty cans in. She began to head towards the door.

"Yeah but i bet it's cold" Maureen turned and headed out the bathroom, and into the living. She turned and noticed Joanne wasn't behind her.

_ Then._

"JOANNE!"

"I had to rip it"

"No you didn't!"

"I didn't want the whole bag in the cabinet!"

"Couldn't you have waited until i'd gone?!"

"No, i had to do it. Get it over and done with. Besides, you pratically live here anyway"

"Besides the point, i asked you not to, and you still ripped it! I can't believe you"

"I can't belive you heard it" Joanne said, remembering the rip. To her it had made no sound. Maybe it was like a dog whistle, only certain people can hear it.

"Of course i heard it, it's vile, it's squeaky and just wrong"

"It's silent"

"Don't mock me on this Joanne. I don't like it"

"I'm not mocking you, honestly. What about cotton buds?" Joanne smirked.

Maureen huffed and stomped back into the living room and resumed her place on the sofa. Joanne quickly followed and took a seat next to her.

"Im sorry"

"It's not funny" Maureen said, leaning into Joanne slightly.

"I know it's not, I'm not laughing" Joanne turned her head away from Maureen so she was unable to see the smirk on her lips.

"Good" Maureen mumbled. Joanne sat back on the sofa, and allowed Maureen to snuggle up to her.

Joanne sat with Maureen, watching bad film after bad film. She just couldn't get over Maureen's dislike of cotton wool. She had never met someone who couldn't physically touch cotton wool without freaking out. She couldn't let this drop.

"Maureen, can i ask you something?"

"Yeah-huh"

"What do you do when you have ear ache?"

"Suffer."

"Really?"

"Yes. Cotton wool and me don't get along."

Joanne giggled slightly.

"There's got to be something you don't like" Maureen asked, sitting up and facing Joanne.

Joanne thought for minute.

"Worms"

"Worms? Really?"

"Yes, i hate them. I'm glad i live in an apartment so i don't have a garden for them to .... worm around in"

Maureen laughed, and suggled back into Joanne.

"I won't show you my worm farm then" Maureen joked.

"Not funny"

**The end.**

_**I have an irrational fear of cotton wool myself, the stuff is disgusting.**_  
_Rubbish/rushed ending. It's 4am, i've lost all sense of what im doing now._  
_I haven't written anything for about two months, im a little rusty, so i wrote this just to kind of help me back into the swing of things.  
__Also, i promised to give a shout out to Yoshino in the Moonlight4's website on my next 'HM&JM' chapter, but seeming as though that's taking longer than i hoped, i'll put it on here.  
__Check it out: fanbbs(dot).net_

_Reviews make this cotton phobic writer happy. :)_


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